


The Book of the Dead

by makaragamzee



Category: Naruto
Genre: Gore, Multi, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-21
Updated: 2014-01-28
Packaged: 2018-01-09 12:59:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1146285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/makaragamzee/pseuds/makaragamzee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"You are all going to die tonight." Naruto's demonic appearance and words of warning send chills up the spines of everyone here. What started as a group of friends supporting Naruto through a game of cold turkey to quit his drug habit has become a trip through hell for everyone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> You may notice some similarities to Evil Dead. This fic is based off the new film. The introduction is very close to the real movie, but the rest of it will be much different. Enjoy.

There is a book, bound in human skin and inked in human blood, of ancient Sumerian burial rituals. Its title translates roughly to "The Book of the Dead". In it lie several passages speaking of demons and monsters.

What you are about to read may be very disturbing. Reader discretion is advised.

 

"Well, nice of you to finally show up." Kankuro said flatly, standing up from the trunk of his car. Gaara smiled enough to joke with his brother.

"Sorry that traffic exists." he said. "How have you been?"

"Fine."

"Teaching high school finally turned you into a bitter old coot?"

"You kept us waiting for three hours." Sakura interjected. 

"It is alright." Lee spoke up. "We have been waiting patiently."

"Whatever." Shikamaru mumbled. "Let's just get this over with. He's waiting for you in the back. No idea why he'd want you for this support."

Gaara's nearly invisible smile disappeared. "Naruto and I go far back, Shikamaru." he said flatly before turning on his heel to go to the back of the run-down cabin.

Kakashi sighed. "Give him time. He can't be a stoic pain in the neck all the time."

Gaara stopped when he saw Naruto sitting upside down on a rusting car under the tree in the backyard. He knocked on the side of the house. Naruto jumped and fell off the hood   
of the car, groaning.

"Not funny, Gaara!" he said. "Wait, you actually showed up? There's a shocker." he added, grimacing. 

"We're friends, right Naruto? Friends are there for each other."

"Easy for you to say." Naruto mumbled, angrily.

"Wait." Gaara said, looking shocked. "What's that?"

"What?"

"That! Right-- here." Gaara smirked and pretended to pull a pendant from behind Naruto's headband. Naruto laughed shakily.

"That's not funny, Gaara." he said, trying to shake the small scare off. "What is that, anyway?"

"It's a charm from the local hoodoo store." he said. "It's supposed to make your will stronger."

"I thought you didn't believe in that stuff."

"You do, though. Maybe it'll help."

 

Naruto, Kankuro, Sakura, Lee, Kakashi, Shikamaru, and Gaara had all gathered around the vine-ridden well in the front of the house. Naruto held out his hands and everyone followed, taking ahold of the hands of the person next to them.

"I make a promise, witnessed by my closest friends and my teacher, that can never be--" he stopped, as if forgetting what to say next. "Screw it." he said, shaking his head. He pulled a small plastic bag from his pocket and dumped it down the well. "I promise never to touch this shit again." 

He nodded once and wiped his hands on his pants before turning to the house. "Let's get started then."

 

Several hours later, they had cleaned the house to the point where they could live in it. They had to sweep just about everything and fix much of the lighting and plumbing, but eventually they were settled in.

Gaara stepped out on the porch to watch the sun set in the distance, glancing over at Lee and waving shortly.

"Gaara," Lee said. "there is something I have to tell you."

"What is it?"

"We already tried this back at the Hidden Leaf Village." he said.

Gaara looked puzzled and turned to look at Lee for an explanation. "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked.

"Naruto. He made the same dramatic vow of sobriety and then threw the drugs down the toilet." he said. "Eight hours later, we found him locked in his bedroom with the secret stash."

Gaara looked shocked. He and Naruto may have grown apart over the years, but he never knew the blonde to do something like that, let alone even start drugs in the first place.

"When he breaks--and believe me, he will--we cannot let him leave. No matter what. He will not survive another OD."

"Wait, Naruto OD'd?"

"Legally, he was dead. Sakura had to defribullate him."  
Gaara clenched his fists angrily and sighed. "Fine. But if things get too bad, I will take him home if none of you do." he said, turning and going back inside.

 

Sure enough, only two hours later, Naruto was screaming at the top of his lungs.

"I CAN'T FUCKING TAKE IT ANYMORE! THIS FUCKING SMELL, GOD DAMN IT!"

Sakura wrapped her arms around him, rocking him and stroking his back, shooshing him quietly.

"YOU HAVE TO GET ME OUT OF HERE! PLEASE! PLEASE, SAKURA, PLEASE!"

Gaara and a few of the others hurried to Naruto's room, fear and concern on everyone's face. "PLEASE! Please! Lee! Please, take me home! Gaara, Kankuro!" he begged. "Kakashi, please, don't you fucking care?!"

"Shhh..." Sakura said. "We're not going anywhere. We're not going anywhere..."

 

After they managed to calm Naruto down, he went to the living room with everyone else. "I don't understand you people." he said. "Something is dead and it fucking smells."

"There is no smell." Lee assured him.

Kankuro sighed and went back over to his seat, tripping over the run on his way. He cursed under his breath and then stopped short. Was that blood under the rug?

Kakashi looked over Kankuro's shoulder and Gaara pulled the rug away. Sure enough, there was blood surrounding the trap door to the cellar, as if someone had been dragged into it.

The rest of the group crowded around and Lee pulled the door up. Immediately, the smell of death and rotting flesh hit them. Gagging, Sakura pulled her collar over her nose and started down the steps. Gaara hurried to get ahead of her and flicked on a light. 

Dead cats, petrified and still rotting, hung innumerably on the ceiling by barbed wire. Naruto turned away and Sakura backed up, grabbing Kakashi's hand for support. One of the support beams under the house was half-burnt and a book wrapped in plastic and barbed wire was on a table of bloody, rusting knives.

"Oh my fucking God..." Naruto mumbled.

"D-do not worry about it." Lee said. "We will start cleaning." he assured the other. "The smell will be gone in no time." he said.

Kankuro grabbed the book on the table before going back upstairs.

 

While Gaara, Lee, and Kakashi worked on cleaning the dead cats from the basement, Shikamaru and Sakura were preparing dinner. Outside, Naruto paced around in the rain, hoping to rid himself of the withdrawal symptoms.

Kankuro stared at the book on his bedroom desk thoughtfully before taking a pair of wire cutters and opening it. It was bound in pale, peach colored leather that had been stitched together with thick, black string. The first page read in scratchy handwriting, "LEAVE THIS BOOK ALONE!"

Thinking it was some prank, he pressed on. The images were disturbing, most of the depicting young girls or boy doing horrible things to their bodies. One showed a girl tied up in thorns with a serpent-like vine forcing itself into her womb. Another showed a boy cutting off his own face with a knife. A third showed a girl pouring boiling water on herself.  
Kankuro cut his finger as he turned a page and cursed quietly. When he reached to clean the drop of blood from the paper, he noticed a page had been torn out. Next to it, on the opposite page, was more scratchy writing. "DON'T READ IT. DON'T WRITE IT. DON'T SPEAK IT."

Curiosity got the best of him, though, and he took a sheet of notebook paper and shaded over it with a pencil to find the words beneath.

"Kunda."

A screech echoed in the woods.

"Astratta."

The noise became louder, accompanied by footsteps in the rain.

"Montosse."

Naruto continued to pace, his face deadpan as he shivered.

"Canda."

A human scream echoed in Naruto's mind and he suddenly doubled over, throwing up.

"Please God..." he mumbled. "Give me a break!" He glanced up and saw... himself in the woods, dressed in a filthy white undershirt and his boxers, blood, pus, and black ooze pouring from his mouth.

"Narutooooo..." it hissed.

Naruto yelped and ran inside. "I have got to get out of here! Right now!" he yelled.

"Oh, no!" Sakura said, running over to him from the kitchen. "Slumber party's not over yet."

"Yeah, right! We still haven't play 'Fuck, Marry, Kill' right?!" By now, everyone in the house was watching.

"Naruto," Gaara said. "you have to stick this out."

"Yeah, well, fuck you very much!" he yelled, grabbing the keys from the table by the door and running out to Kankuro's car.

"Naruto!" Shikamaru yelled. "Someone go get him!"

 

Naruto had his foot all the way down on the pedal, driving madly. "Fuck!" he yelled. "What the fuck am I doing?! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! FUCK!" 

Then he saw it, that demonic image of himself in the road, hissing his name again. Naruto screamed and swerved to the right, landing in a swamp at the bottom of the hill.

He awoke groggy and fumbled for something to get him out of the car once he'd realized he was waist deep in water and still belted in. He climbed out the broken window and landed in the water, hurrying to get out of the murky stuff. He turned and yelled when he saw that thing behind him and started hurrying for the shore, crawling through the mud, sinking elbow deep in the dirt and grime.

He managed to get to his feet and started running. Something was chasing him, he knew it. Even if he couldn't see it, he knew it was true. Blinded by fear and the tears in his eyes, he didn't manage to see the hole in the ground and went tumbling into a thorn patch. He struggled to stand and fund the thorns had entangled his limbs. He tripped suddenly as one wrapped tightly around his neck.

He couldn't breathe, he couldn't hear. He struggled to pull himself up by the thorn-covered vines on his arms and finally managed to get upright, but now the vines were tighter and he had no chance of getting free. Looking ahead, he saw that monster only feet from hi, panting and hyperventilating.

It opened its mouth and a thick, slimy vine covered in thorns the size of Naruto's thumb crawled out. It slithered across the ground, moving closer and closer to Naruto, who by now was panicking and screaming to get free. It coiled around his leg and closer to his thighs. By the time he felt it literally inside him, it was too late to do anything.  
When it had done the deed, he was silent for a moment before he screamed.

 

Naruto was huddled under the covers in his room, shaking and whimpering. He was cold, terrified, and disgusted. Gaara came into the room to check on him and sat down on the bed. Naruto jumped, and Gaara shooshed him, assuring him it was okay.

Naruto grabbed Gaara's collar and pulled him close. "Gaara. Listen to me. You have to get me... out of here. There was something... in the woods. I think that it's in here..." he looked around, terrified. "...with us, right now."

Gaara sighed and took Naruto's hands off his collar. "You know it's all in your head." he said. Naruto looked helpless. "Get a shower. You'll feel better. Change your clothes, too." he said.

"N-no! No! P-please...!"

 

Gaara went out to the shed a few minutes later, searching for the old dog that lived on the property. "Kore?" he called. "Kore?" He stopped when he saw a trail of fresh blood going to the hole in the floorboards. He was wary now and peered over the broken floor carefully to find the dog lying dead on the mud beneath the shed. 

Gaara forced himself not to choke up. It was only a dog, after all, but it held so many memories about this place and his friends. He pulled the dog out by his collar and swallowed thickly. "Oh shit..." he mumbled. "What did you do?"

And then he saw it. The blood covered hammer nearby. The only thing that came to Gaara's mind was Naruto, screaming and slamming the hammer repatedly into the dog's head.  
He stood up and marched back to the house. "Where's Naruto?" he demanded.

"In the shower." Shikamaru answered. "Why?"

Gaara ignored the question and pressed on, grabbing the doorkob of the bathroom. Locked. "Naruto, open this door!"

"Gaara!" Sakura yelled, trying to pull him away. "Gaara, stop!"

"Open the damn door, Naruto!"

But the cries fell on deaf ears. Naruto stood, twitching in the corner of the shower in his sleep clothes, the water pouring over him. He reached forward for the water knob, as if in a daze, and turned it all the way to hot.

"Naruto!"

"Gaara, stop!"

The water was boiling by now, and when Gaara forced the door open, burns had already formed on Naruto's face. "Oh God." Gaara mumbled.

 

Gaara was given the responsibility of taking Naruto to the hospital while everyone else prepared to leave. Naruto was foaming at the mouth, twitching, half-alive. "Come on, stay with me!" Gaara yelled.

He slammed on the brakes in horror and got out of the car. The rain... Oh God. It had flooded everything. There was no way out now. He turned to look at Naruto through the car window, worried. Naruto slowly but surely began to grin.

 

"Alright." Sakura said shakily. "I gave him some sedatives. He should be out for a few hours." Everyone was silent. "His... His burns are serious. Like... second, third degree?" Sakura said. Her medical knowledge had finally failed. Things were going seriously wrong.

"Alright, but what if--" Gaara stopped. Naruto stood in the doorway, dazed, holding a shotgun limply between his fingers. He lifted it and aimed for Gaara's shoulder.

"Naruto..." he warned. "Put the gun down." Nothing. "Naru--"

Bang!

Naruto screamed, wind billowing wildly around him. A distorted voice echoed around the room, screaming, "Die! One by one! He will take you!"

Then everything was silent.

"You are all going to die tonight." Naruto warned, his voice distorted. Then he collapsed.

"The gun!" Kakashi yelled! "Get it!"

Sakura started frantically crawling towards the gun, grabbing it, but Naruto's hand was soon on top of hers.

He tackled her, straddling her to keep her still. He glared at her for a moment, his eyes red and his skin pale, black and red ooze gushing from his lips He opened his mouth and a cascade of red slime and chunks of meat came pouring out over Sakura. She screamed and writhed under him and managed to throw him off her into the cellar below. Shikamaru slammed the trap door shut.

"Oh my God!" Lee said, a hand over his mouth. Kankuro grabbed a blanket from nearby and gave it to Sakura to clean her face with. Kakashi rushed to Gaara.   
"I need to get the shrapnel out of my arm!" he said. "I have tweezers in my bag." Kakashi said, nodding and hurrying to get them.

Sakura pushed Kankuro away. "I'm going to get more sedatives." she said.

"That would put him into a coma!"

"Guys!" Kankuro said. "I'm sorry to say it, but I don't think we're dealing with a panic attack here!" He nodded to Sakura and she hurried to the bathroom.

 

Sakura managed to clean herself off and was hurriedly readying the syringe and sedatives. She turned when she had finished it and went to the door, but found herself unable to move. She looked over at the desk in the next room, fearful, and saw the book on Kankuro's desk flip to the page with the girl cutting off her face. She gasped and the door slammed shut.

Sakura went limp, her entire body numb, and dropped the syringe in her hand.

Kankuro jumped when he heard the door slam and left the living room to check on Sakura. He slowed when he saw the page on the book had changed and opened the door.  
"Sakura?" he asked. The lights were out and he fumbled for the switch. Although there was light, it was constantly flickering and dimming. The sound of metal on bone, almost like a saw, could be heard, and he saw Sakura huddled in the corner of the shower, the curtain partially obstructing his view.

"What... what are you doing, Sakura?" he asked, reaching for the curtain. "Sakura?" He pulled the curtain back and Sakura turned. A slice of her skin had been cut off by the mirror shard in her hand. Her eyes looked dead and her skin looked like it was rotting. She twitched and growled.

"Oh God!" Kankuro said in horror. "Why would you do that?! Why--?!" he didn't have a chance to finish, because he slipped in a piece of Sakura's flesh and landed on the toilet. Kankuro rolled over, holding his back as Sakura came closer and closer. The door slammed shut and before he could react, Sakura was straddling him.

She shrieked and slammed the shard of glass into his shoulder and then grabbed the syringe nearby and began frantically stabbing him with it. He screamed and yelled and finally pushed her away. She broke a piece of the counter on her way down and went still. Kankuro shuddered and pulled the needle from under his eyes, choking back screams.  
When his vision had cleared, Sakura was crawling towards him. In a hurry, Kankuro grabbed the piece of stone that had broken off the counter and slammed it into Sakura's head three or four timed before she was really dead. Gaara flung open the door and gagged.

"She tried to kill me..." Kankuro said, shaking. "She tried to kill me!"


	2. Don't Cut It Off!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things become clearer. Naruto's condition worsens. Who's next on the list? Kankuro? Lee? Gaara?

After they made sure Naruto was safely stored away in the cellar, the rest of them retreated to the shed outside. Kankuro was shaking and sobbing, but he wasn't crying. Gaara almost couldn't watch Lee bandage him up.

Shikamaru stood near Lee, the first aid box in his hands, ready to give Lee whatever he needed to help. Kakashi was searching the shelves for a means of defense. "Gaara!"

He stopped staring at the floorboards and looked up at lee. "What?"

"Kankuro needs water and sugar." he said. "Go!"  
Gaara nodded quickly and ran back to the house. He stopped when he saw the trap door to the cellar and moved carefully around it before hurrying to the kitchen. He grabbed an empty jar to fill with water, and started searching the shelves and cabinets for sugar. He jumped and turned when he heard the cellar door fling open.

"G... Gaara...?" Naruto called pathetically between sobs.

Gaara smiled and hurried over to the door, peering over the edge carefully. "Naruto? Hey, are you--"

"My l-leg hurts... W-why did you lock me down here?"

"You... You were out of control. You were violent, we didn't know what else to do." Gaara said, slowly making his way down the steps to the cellar.

"You don't understand..." Naruto said, his voice shaking and distorting. "He's not gonna let you leave."

For once in his life, Gaara felt true fear and turned. "Until he has you." Only a few more steps. "UNTIL HE HAS ALL OF YOU!"

Suddenly, just as Gaara was about to escape, the steps under him broke and an invisible force pulled him down, slamming the door shut behind him.

 

When he awoke, Naruto was crawling up the steps, closer and closer to Gaara. His eyes looked like they were on fire and his skin was as white as paper. He looked sick, demonic, possessed. Gaara scrambled back and grabbed the carving knife on a shelf nearby and held it in front of him, his arm shaking.

Naruto looked the knife over and grinned. "I can smell your filthy soul." he said, running his hands up the inside of Gaara's thighs.

Gaara moved to attack, but Naruto was suddenly on top of him, biting his hand. The pain was excruciating, as if his blood had been set on fire, and he screamed. Naruto leaned back a bit and slid the blade of the knife as far as it would go, then ran his tongue up the blade, moaning blissfully as it sliced the muscle in two. Gaara gagged in disgust and tried to back away.

The door suddenly flung open and Gaara scrambled up, clinging to the person who had opened it. Lee was almost shocked, but he decided to ignore Gaara's behavior. Then he saw Naruto.

"Why don't you come down here so I can suck your cock, pretty boy?!" he yelled, grinning, blood gushing between his teeth.

"Naruto..." Lee mumbled.

"Naruto isn't here, you fucking idiot!" he yelled. "Your friend is being raped in hell!"

Lee slammed the door shut and grabbed the nails and chains he'd brought from the shed, hammering and tying until the trap door was bound. He fell backwards onto the graound and pulled Gaara close.

"Home..." Gaara mumbled, burying his face in Lee's shirt. "I wanna go home..."

 

The rest of the group moved back into the house since Lee had reported Naruto safely locked away. Kankuro lay on the couch, Kakashi watching him to make sure none of his wounds would open up or get worse. Shikamaru sat on a chair, watching the chained-up door as if it would burst open again. Lee entered the room, having calmed Gaara down.

"Lee..." Kankuro said. "I did something horrible..."

"No. You had to kill her, it is alright--"

"No." he said, sitting up. Kakashi moved to the floor to give him room. "I read a passage from that book." he said. "I think it was some sort of prayer... Whatever I unleashed has latched itself to Naruto."

 

Gaara was still shaking from the pain. Lee and the others had since moved from the living room to Kankuro's room to talk, and Gaara had requested he be alone. He went back to the kitchen to clean the festering bite wound on his hand.

Underneath the bandages were rivers of black slime oozing from the teeth marks. He gasped and tried not to look away and turned the water on. It hurt even thinking about putting his hand under there, but he did anyway. He hissed and put a shaky hand on the wound to push out anything infected, but the wound started spreading along his hand and then to his arm, the skin turning purple and black as it bubbled and burned.

He turned away from the sink as the door to the living room slammed, leaving him a perfect view of the door to the cellar, where Naruto peered out from the small space he could open the door.

Realizing what was happening to him, Gaara reached with his good hand to the electric meat slicer on the counter and slid down to the floor. He choked and gagged as the pain in his arm continued to spread.

"Don't do it, you little faggot, don't cut it off!" Naruto warned.

Gaara ignored him and turned on the cutter, putting the blade over his arm.

"Don't cut it off!"

"Fuck you."

He slammed the blade into his arm, gasping at the sting of pain that came with it. Blood flew, covering his neck and the side of his face. Then he broke through the bone. He let out a chilling shriek as blood spewed everywhere, coating him in a thick, red substance.

"Gaara?!" Kankuro yelled, hurrying behind Kakashi and Shikamaru, who were following Lee.  
He fumbled for the light switch in the kitchn and then put a hand over his mouth.  
There stood Gaara, grinning madly and covered in his own blood. About two-thirds of his arm from above his elbow down was dangling on him by only a few strings of flesh and muscle. He laughed.

"I... I had to do it..." he said, shakily. He looked down as the rest of his arm fell off and laughed again. "And I feel much better now..."

 

They went into the storage room after that, Kakashi saying there were better supplies there. They wrapped the end of Gaara's arm in toilet paper and duct tape to help stop the bleeding and then retreated to the next room to give Gaara some peace and quiet.

Kankuro was already there, watching flames in the trash can. "I don't know why, but I thought this would end it." he said.

"What?" Shikamaru asked. When he looked over Kankuro's shoulder, he understood.

Kankuro had tried to burn the book.

"I thought it would end it." he repeated. "But this book does not burn."

"Okay." Kakashi said. "So how do we end it?"

Kankuro beat out the fire with his shoe and pulled the book out, setting it on a table to see better. "I... I'm not sure. This book is in some ancient language. There are translations, but they're scattered. But one thing is clear."

"Spill it." Lee said, his sudden use of informal words shocking Kakashi a bit.

"It says that to purify the possessed..." he stopped.

"What? What is it?" Shikamaru demanded.

"We have to kill Naruto."

"What?" Kakashi and Lee said together.

"I-I don't know! It says right here!" Kankuro said, pointing to the page. "It specifies three ways in particular: a live burial, bodily dismemberment, or burning at the stake."

Kakashi grunted in disapproval and turned away. "So you're saying if we kill Naruto, this will be over?"

"I don't know!" Kankuro said, standing. "This is not a history textbook! I don't know!"

The sudden thud of metal on skin stopped everyone dead in their tracks.

Gaara had blood running down the side of his face where he had carved a heart into his temple. Thick, wet sand poured from his mouth, along with blood. His skin was deadly white and his eyes had black rings around the irises. He twitched and slammed the metal bat in his hands into the side of his face multiple times before he turned to Kakashi.

"Oh God--!" But he didn't have time to finish. Gaara slammed the bat into Kakashi's knees and sent him to the ground, beating him relentlessly.

Lee backed against the wall with Shikamaru, searching frantically for something to fight with. Kankuro tried to back away, but his already wounded state wasn't helping, and he fell over the trash can.

The noise got Gaara's attention and he dropped the bat. As he turned, he grabbed the nail gun from the floor, Shikamaru diving to grab it before him, but barely missing it. Gaara raised his arm and fired at Kankuro, who was smart enough to put his hands up and prevent the nails from hitting his chest.

Lee grabbed the duct tape and threw it at the back of Gaara's head. When he turned, Lee's expression went from scared to terrified and he backed into the wall again. Shikamaru tried to get in front of him, but Gaara shoved him into Kakashi, knocking both of them down. Gaara opened his mouth wider, more sand and blood dripping onto his shirt and onto the floor.  
"Kiss me, you filthy cunt!" he yelled grabbing Lee's collar and forcing their mouths together. The foul-smelling mixture of sand and blood and God knows what else nearly choked Lee to death. He kicked and punched, but Gaara's strength was unbelievable. It wasn't until Kankuro managed to grab the nail gun and empty it into the back of Gaara's head that he stopped.

He dropped Lee and picked the bat up from the ground again, ignoring the nails in his head. He screamed and started beating Lee with it.

"Kankuro!" Kakashi yelled. Shikamaru had hit his head on a table going down and Kakashi's legs were in no shape to be moving, so he was struggling to get the shotgun nearby. When Kankuro saw what he was doing, he grabbed it, cocked, and aimed.

With one shot, the arm holding the bat over Lee's head was gone, and suddenly the life returned to Gaara's eyes. 

He turned, staring at the new stump, tears and blood mixing with the sand still on his lips. He looked up at Kankuro in disbelief before collapsing.

"W... why are you... h-hurting me...?" he asked shakily, crawling towards Kankuro. "M... m... my f-face hurts..." he groaned, crawling into Kankuro's lap. "Why... why does my f-face hurt...?"

After that, Gaara's head went limp in Kankuro's lap. He checked his brother's pulse. Dead.


	3. My Head is Killing Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lee can't stop thinking about what happened to Gaara...

Since the incident with Gaara, Lee hadn’t stopped shaking. He refused to move on his own and he looked on the verge of tears. After making sure everyone was alright, Shikamaru helped Kakashi take Lee into a spare bedroom and Kankuro followed shortly after.

They sat in silence, save for Lee’s soft whimpers and Kakashi’s hushed words of comfort. 

“I…” They jumped when Lee broke the silence. “He was right in front of me… I could have… I should have d-done someth—“

“Lee, relax.” Shikamaru said. “None of us could have helped Gaara. He was already gone.”

At Shikamaru’s nonchalant words, Lee broke and started sobbing, curling up against Kakashi as he screamed. Kakashi continued what he had been doing until Lee started shaking again, but his movements started becoming violent and jerky.

“Shikamaru!” Kakashi said, concern tainting his voice. “Get some water, hurry!”

“What is it?” Kankuro asked.

“He’s having a seizure, just get the water!”

Shikamaru nodded and stood, started heading for the door, then froze. Lee had grabbed his wrist with startling speed and strength and was squeezing it tightly. When Lee pulled his face from Kakashi’s side, the remains of Gaara’s sand and blood was pouring from his mouth.

Kakashi gasped and slid off the bed with a thump, then grabbed Kankuro. “Shikamaru, let’s go! Hurry!”

Shikamaru yanked his hand out of Lee’s iron grip and hurried out the door with Kakashi. When Shikamaru was out safely, Kakashi locked the door and shoved a bench from the hallway in front of it, then slammed everyone against the wall, his arms out to protect them.

Lee screamed and yelled and banged on the door chanting, “Rock Lee, took an ax, gave his comrades forty whacks! When he saw what he had done, he gave his teacher forty-one!” 

Eventually, everything when silent. Kakashi watched the door carefully, as if it would burst open, and then Lee screamed again.

“Oh God!” he yelled. “Someone help me! I can’t see!” he sobbed. Shikamaru ducked under Kakashi’s arm and pulled out a pocket knife.

“Go on ahead. I’ll take care of this.” He said.

Kakashi hesitated, then nodded, and pulled Kankuro’s arm onto his shoulder to get him out of the house quicker. “Good luck.” He said, before running out to the shed.

Shikamaru took a deep breath and shoved the bench out of the way and unlocked the door. “Lee.” He said. “I’m coming in.”

When he opened the door, Lee was still curled up on the bed, sobbing. Shikamaru approached him carefully, his knife ready for an attack. “Lee… Are you okay?”

“My head…” he said, pained. “It’s killing me!” he sobbed. “It’s…. It’s fucking killing me!” he yelled.

Shikamaru took a sudden step back and Lee turned. He had clawed his eyes out. Blood covered his cheeks like some sick double set of tearstains. One of his eyes was still dangling from its socket, darting about frantically as Lee hissed at Shikamaru.

Suddenly, Shikamaru was pinned under Lee, and the hand holding the knife was snapped. Lee took the knife from Shikamaru’s twitching hand and stabbed him in the gut. Shikamaru groaned in pain and started trying to get Lee off of him, but Lee slammed the knife into Shikamaru’s throat.

Gasping for breath between the cascades of blood, Shikamaru grabbed the knife and yanked it from his throat before slamming it into Lee’s forehead.

He stood shakily and started backing up. “Cannot… I cannot… s-see…” he mumbled. “Dizzy… G-getting dark…”

And with a wet thud, Lee hit the ground.


	4. It's Not a Request

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Can Kakashi handle it when it's down to just him, Kankuro... and the monster in the cellar?

Kakashi had finished bandaging his legs up when he heard Shikamaru fall into the shed. Kankuro gripped the shotgun in his hands tightly, yelping in fear, before he realized who it was. Wincing, Kakashi went to Shikamaru’s side.

“What happened?”

“Lee… dead…” Shikamaru said though the blood in his throat. “Can’t… c-can’t breathe…!” he yelled.

Hurriedly, Kakashi helped Shikamaru to his front so he could cough up the blood and started looking for something to sterilize the wound. Shikamaru heaved and black slime fell from his mouth instead of blood, smoking.

“Oh… G-God help m-me…” he mumbled. “K… Kakashi… The gun…!”

“What about it—Oh God!” Kakashi fell back when he saw the black sludge still dripping from Shikamaru’s lips. “Look… you’re gonna be alright, got it?”

“No!” Shikamaru said, crawling away from Kakashi. “N-no… I know w-what’s ha-happening--!” he was cut short by another convulsion, the slime still pouring from his lips. “Kill me.” He said, his voiced starting to bend and distort.

Kakashi shook his head in disbelief. “No. No! I won’t! I can’t do that!”

“IT WASN’T A FUCKING REQUEST NOW KILL ME!” Shikamaru yelled, his eyes having turned black. He leaned against the door of the shed, laughing to himself as the slime started pouring from the corners of his eyes, his nostrils, his ears, his mouth, even running down his arms and legs. “Too slow, old man.”

Shikamaru lunged at Kakashi, but then fell short and landed on his, dead. Kakashi turned to Kankuro, his one good eye wide with fear and glistening with terrified tears.

Kankuro still held the smoking shotgun at Shikamaru, as if he would get back up and attack them again. “You… You should have listened to him.” He said, shaking.

Kakashi gasped and realized what had just happened and shoved the body off him. He started panicking for a moment when he realized almost all of the blood on his clothes wasn’t his own. He backed into Kankuro’s legs and he hissed in pain, which made Kakashi jump. He stood quickly and leaned against the wall. His eye fell on two things.

Lighter fluid and a box of matches.

“I’m gonna do what I gotta do.” He said, breaking the silence. “I’m gonna do it.”


	5. Apologies, My Old Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's been done. Its finished.
> 
> Or not.

Kakashi found several more bottles of lighter fluid and a few cans of gasoline. He grabbed as many as he could and took the box of matches with him into the house. He took the first can and covered the bedrooms with it, the next for the kitchen. He poured lighter fluid and the last can of gas around the living room and then stopped at the cellar door where Naruto was.

He emptied a bottle of lighter fluid over the door.

Kakashi drew a match and struck, holding it in front of him to let it go, but then stopped when he heard Naruto… singing.

“…and virgin journeys lie before us, patient and inscrutable, there’s clouds of visions, crowds of villains, falling in like flies…”

The lullaby Kakashi had sung to Naruto when his grandmother was busy and he had nowhere to go. Those nights of Naruto sleeping on a yoga mat in the dojo and tossing and turning until Kakashi either sang him to sleep or read him something. Those days ended when Naruto graduated, but the memories never died.

“I can’t do this…” he said, shaking his head. He shook out the match and then remembered something else in the book.

Live burial.

Kakashi hurried back to the shed, thankful that Kankuro had fallen asleep, and started gathering supplies. He hooked up two empty syringes from Sakura’s bag to a car battery and a light switch, grabbed a golf club from the storage room in the house and then went to work pulling the nails from the door in the living room.  
When he flung it open, Naruto was no longer sitting at the bottom of the stairs. Carefully, Kakashi made his way down the rotting steps into the cellar, holding a flashlight under his arm. 

He made it to the second room where they had found the dead cats and looked around. Still nothing. He sloshed through the water that had seeped through the mud floors during the storm, flashing the light at every corner.

Suddenly, he felt hands on his shoulders and was shoved head-first into the water. Kakashi tried to fight back and pull himself out of Naruto’s inhuman grip. He could feel the air in his lungs turning stale, black edging at his vision, and then the hands were gone.

When Kakashi surfaced, he looked around frantically for Naruto. He was passed out in the water, and Kankuro stood behind him with the shotgun in his hands, the butt of it still dripping with black blood. He stumbled and Kakashi’s flashlight glared off of the knife in Kankuro’s chest as he fell into the water. Kakashi dropped the things in his hands and went to Kankuro’s side.

“Wake up, come on!” he yelled, shaking Kankuro.

“Hey…” Kankuro said lazily. “You look… you look good… I missed you, man…” he said, smiling. And then Kankuro’s eyes fluttered shut and he died.

Kakashi nodded slowly and put his forehead to Kankuro’s, sighing. He stood up and threw Naruto over his shoulder, grabbed his things, and went back upstairs.

Kakashi dug around in Naruto’s bag and found the best set of clothing he could find. He spent a few minutes shakily dressing Naruto and then slid a plastic zip-lock bag over his head before dragging him outside to dig. When he had a hole big enough, he lowered Naruto inside and started shoveling the dirt back onto him.

“Kakashi-sensei?” Naruto said groggily. “I… I can’t move! I can’t breathe! Kakashi!” he yelled, struggling under the weight of the dirt and starting to cry.

“Stop it.” Kakashi said, returning to his work. “You’re not Naruto.”

Immediately, Naruto stopped, glaring daggers at Kakashi. “Why do you hate me, sensei?”

Kakashi froze. 

“I know you do. You left me alone all those years without anyone. You let me face everything by myself. I didn’t even have Gramma Tsunade. And I know she hates you for what you did. And she waits for you in hell.”

Kakashi choked back and sob, his will deteriorating after everything that had happened, and went back to shoveling. “Shut up. Shut up! You’re not him!” he repeated, hurriedly shoving the dirt over Naruto.

When he was done, he collapsed on the impromptu grave, sobbing. “I’m so sorry, Naruto…” he said, gripping the dirt tightly. “I never meant to hurt you, please understand that. I am so… so… sorry…” 

After a few minutes, Kakashi started hurriedly digging Naruto back up. He yanked the bag from his head and grabbed the contraption he’d put together earlier and slammed it into Naruto’s chest. He connected the wires and flipped the switch, sending an electric shock into Naruto’s heart. He did this two times before it stopped working. Naruto was still lifeless as before.

Realizing it was hopeless, Kakashi pulled the needles from his student’s chest and sighed. He pulled a blanket over Naruto’s body and said, “Alright. You’re at peace now.”

He stood up, limping, and walked away.


	6. I Will Feast On Your Soul

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final chapter.

“Kakashi-sensei?”

He turned immediately and rushed at Naruto, hugging him tightly.

“It was so horrible!” Naruto sobbed, holding Kakashi tightly. “It was so horrible!”

After a few minutes like that, Kakashi smiled. “Alright, we’re gonna get out of here. Wait, I’ll go get the keys, okay?” he said. Naruto nodded and took a seat on the steps of the porch, flicking dirt off his clothes while he waited.

Kakashi grabbed the keys to his car and smiled, turning for the door, and then stopped. He turned slowly, clutching his neck, and went wide-eyed when he saw Kankuro, twitching and glassy-eyed, a crowbar in one hand and the splintered wood in Kakashi’s neck.

“He’s coming.” Kankuro growled as Kakashi reached for the gun he’d brought up from the cellar.

With one shot, the whole house went up in flames. Naruto jumped and started banging on the door, realizing Kakashi had locked it. He was almost ready to collapse. He thought it was okay! He thought they would get out of here!

He back away from the porch and watched the flames rise. He looked down and saw the pendant from Gaara still around his neck. He pulled it off and fell to his knees, staring at it in his hand. He closed his eyes and looked up.

And then a drop of blood fell into his palm.

The rain continued to come in thick, red streams, covering everything in sight. Naruto stood up and looked around, making sure he wasn’t just imagining things. Then the door of the cabin burst open.

Kakashi stood in the doorway, flames on his shoulders. His skin was falling off and bubbling and most of his clothes had turned to ash. He stepped into the yard and something began forcing its way through his body. He shuddered as his eye patch fell off and a hand forced its way through his skull. It slammed onto his lower face where his scarf usually covered and Kakashi growled.

He lunged at Naruto, grabbing his arm. Naruto screamed in pain as the hand left a burn on his skin. He ripped himself from Kakashi’s grip and ran for the car, glad he still had a spare key from when he was younger. He climbed inside and tried to start the car. Suddenly, Kakashi smashed the window in. Naruto yelled and hurried to the other side of the car. He leapt out the door and ran for a hole in the mud. He saw light at the end and hurried through it.

Surprisingly, the tunnel ended in the shed. Naruto hurried into a corner and smiled when he saw a machete on the shelf, but then stopped and went for the chainsaw when he saw it. He tried starting it but got nothing. He looked at the shelves against and grabbed the bottle labeled “CHAINSAW GAS” and filled it up. The cap rolled away and he reached for it, then drew back when he saw that demonic Kakashi and retreated to the space behind the shelves.

He frantically started trying to start the chainsaw but to no avail. The machete suddenly burst through the shelves, inches from his face. The next attack sliced into his shoulder and Naruto screamed as it pulled out. He started trying the chainsaw again, but the abomination stacked again, slicing his knee this time. Naruto yelled and burst through the dry-rotting walls and hurried for the safety of the car, diving under it.

He tugged at the cord and grinned when it started. He looked over at the shed and saw Kakashi hurrying for the car. He yelled and sliced through one of Kakashi’s legs. Immediately, he hurried to the other side of the car, but Kakashi had other plans.

He pushed the car over on top of Naruto, who managed to roll away just in time. But it landed on his hand.

Naruto screamed in agony and started tugging, hoping the blood on the ground would act as a lubricant to slide out, but it only tugged at his skin and bone more.  
He looked over and tried to grab the chainsaw, but it was out of reach, and Kakashi was crawling towards him.

“You’re gonna die here, you pathetic junkie!”

Naruto groaned. “I’ve had enough of this shit!” He rolled back over and put his feet against the car and pulled, screaming in pain when his arm, not his hand, came loose.

He grabbed the chainsaw and backed away.

“I will feast on your soul!”

He frowned, slammed his stump into the chainsaw handle, and yelled, “Feast on this, motherfucker!”

He rammed the blade into Kakashi’s skull, yelling in anger as he sliced the monster in half. He yanked the chainsaw out and threw it to the side as Kakashi’s lifeless body sank into the blood-soaked ground.

“Go back to hell.” Naruto said.


	7. End?

“Hey, check this out!”

The boy reached curiously for the peach colored book on the ground and flipped it open, landing on a bright red page with a monster rising from the ground.

“Cool.” Sasuke mumbled.


End file.
